Comic Books

A Nightmare on Elm Street’s imaginative premise translates easily to the comic book medium. Several of the industry’s leading publishers recognized Nightmare’s adaptability and developed several series based on the mythos and villain Freddy Krueger. This section spotlights the various comic books associated with the Nightmare series and its organization is as follows:

Marvel Comics
Publishing giant Marvel Comics released a magazine-styled series in 1989 titled Freddy Krueger’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. This short-lived, black and white series followed Dr. Juliann Quinn as she explores Freddy’s past and tries to help targeted teen Allison overcome the infamous dream-stalker. You can read it in full here. Steve Gerber wrote Freddy Krueger’s A Nightmare on Elm Street with art by Rich Buckler, Tony DeZuniga, and Alfredo Alcala. Covers were by Joe Jusko. Marvel Comics canceled this series after its second issue, fearing pressure from anti-violence advocate groups.

Innovation Publishing
Independent publisher Innovation Publishing acquired the Nightmare on Elm Street license in 1991. Working very closely with New Line Cinema, they released three series total before claiming bankruptcy:

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Four issue series and trade paperback adaptation of the feature film. Andy Mangels wrote the adaptation with art by Mike Witherby and Robb Phipps.

Nightmares on Elm Street (1991–92)
Six issue original series serving as the official lead-in story to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Written by Andy Mangels with art by Tonny Harris, Patrick Rolo, and Ray Kryssing. Read the full series here.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Beginning (1992)
Planned four issue series focusing on Freddy Krueger’s past and serving as a direct sequel to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Innovation declared bankruptcy before it could publish the third issue and finish the series. Written by Andy Mangels with art by David Day and Dan Day.

Trident Comics
Trident Comics collected and reprinted Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Freddy Krueger’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Nightmares on Elm Street issues 1–2 in a four issue magazine-styled format in 1992.

Avatar Press
Independent publisher Avatar Press acquired New Line Cinema’s “House of Horror” license in 2005. This license allowed Avatar access to New Line’s famous horror properties: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Avatar launched a series of specials and a mini-series for all three horror series in 2005–06. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Special) introduced Freddy Krueger to readers and was followed by mini-series A Nightmare on Elm Street: Paranoid and one-shot A Nightmare on Elm Street: Fearbook. Brian Pulido wrote all three entries with art by Juan Jose Ryp, Greg Waller, and Dheeraj Verma.

WildStorm
WildStorm, an offshoot of publisher DC Comics, picked up New Line Cinema’s House of Horror license in October 2006. WildStorm published an eight issue series for A Nightmare on Elm Street and followed with a one-shot, New Line Cinema’s Tales of Horror. Popular comics writer Chuck Dixon wrote the main series with art by Kevin West, Tony Harris, Jim Clark, Joel Gomez, Don Ho, and Ben Oliver.

In 2007, WildStorm teamed with Dynamite Entertainment to publish a direct sequel to the hit film Freddy vs. Jason: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. The sequel’s premise teamed villains Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees against Evil Dead/Army of Darkness hero Ash Williams and was based on the film treatment by Jeff Katz. WildStorm released Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash as a six-issue mini-series. It was written by James Kuhoric with art by Jason Craig and J. Scott Campbell. The creative team followed with another sequel in 2009 titled Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors.